Booth's Reason for Assassination | Teachinghistory.org Booth's Reason for Assassination Why did John Wilkes Booth assassinate Abraham Lincoln? What kind of gun did he use? Answer On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth became the first person to assassinate an American president when he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln in his box at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Using a .44 caliber derringer pistol—a small, easily concealed handgun—Booth fired a single shot (timed so that that the audience’s laughter would mask the report) into Lincoln’s brain at point-blank range before jumping to the stage and escaping into the night. After a two-week manhunt, Federal troops cornered Booth in a barn in Maryland, where a Union soldier shot him in the neck. Booth died two hours later.

A member of a famous acting family (many considered Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, the finest Shakespearean actor of his generation, and Booth’s older brother, Edwin is commonly named among the greatest American actors of all time), John Wilkes Booth enjoyed a phenomenally successful stage career during the Civil War: by 1864, he earned $20,000 a year, at a time when the average Northern family earned around $300 annually. A Marylander by birth, Booth was an open Confederate sympathizer during the war. A supporter of slavery, Booth believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and to destroy his beloved South. After Lincoln’s reelection in November 1864, Booth devised a plan to kidnap the president and spirit him to Richmond, where he could be ransomed for some of the Confederate prisoners languishing in northern jails. Booth enlisted a group of friends from Washington to aid him in his attempt. That winter, Booth and his conspirators plotted a pair of elaborate plans to kidnap the president; the first involved capturing Lincoln in his box at Ford’s Theater and lowering the president to the stage with ropes.

Booth ultimately gave up acting to focus on these schemes, and spent more than $10,000 to buy supplies to outfit his band of kidnappers. Neither of the kidnapping plans bore fruit—the second, a ploy on March 17 to capture Lincoln as he traveled in his carriage collapsed when the president changed his itinerary—and several of Booth’s conspirators ultimately left the group. Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make On the evening of April 11, the president stood on the White House balcony and delivered a speech to a small group gathered on the lawn. Two days earlier, Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, and after four long years of struggle it had become clear that the Union cause would emerge from the war victorious. Lincoln’s speech that evening outlined some of his ideas about reconstructing the nation and bringing the defeated Confederate states back into the Union. Lincoln also indicated a wish to extend the franchise to some African-Americans—at the very least, those who had fought in the Union ranks during the war—and expressed a desire that the southern states would extend the vote to literate blacks, as well.

Booth stood in the audience for the speech, and this notion seems to have amplified his rage at Lincoln. “That means nigger citizenship,” he told Lewis Powell, one of his band of conspirators. “Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make.” Three days later Booth made good on his promise. Upon learning that Lincoln and his wife intended to see the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater with commanding general Ulysses S. Grant, Booth used his actor’s connections there to gain access to the president’s box. Finally rejecting the notion of kidnapping, Booth now planned to assassinate the president along with top officials his administration: besides Lincoln and General Grant, Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson were to be killed the same night by other members of Booth’s gang. Booth appears to have plotted the murders in the belief that the simultaneous assassination of four top officials would throw the North and the Republican Party into chaos long enough for the Confederacy to reassemble itself. The other parts of Booth’s plan did not come to fruition. General Grant declined the invitation to see the play; Union officer Henry Rathbone took his place.

While Booth waited for his opportunity to assassinate the president at Ford’s Theater, two of his co-conspirators journeyed to their assigned targets. Lewis Powell gained entry to Secretary of State’s home, where a bedridden Seward lay recuperating from a carriage accident; Powell stabbed him several times, but none of the blows was mortal. At the same time, another conspirator, George Azterodt, made his way to the hotel where Vice President Johnson was lodging. Armed with a gun and a knife, Azterodt detoured to the hotel saloon, where he got drunk and lost his nerve. He left the bar without confronting Johnson and discarded his knife in the streets of Washington. Only one of the four intended victims of Booth’s plot was killed, but Lincoln was by far the biggest prize. With Lincoln’s death, Andrew Johnson ascended to the presidency, and the nation lost the one man that most contemporaries, and most American historians, believed best qualified to “bind up the nation’s wounds” after four brutal years of war.

For more information Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination A+E Networks Introduction On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Google Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Did You Know?

The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington , D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was reportedly in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. History Channel Online Course – Lincoln Assassination At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head.

After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.

The president’s body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House , where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later described the scene, recounting that a bullet clattered into a waiting basin during the doctors’ removal of Lincoln’s brain. He wrote that the team stopped to stare at the offending weapon, “the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.” During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting that they clip a lock of Lincoln’s hair for her. News of the president’s death traveled quickly, and by the end of the day flags across the country flew at half-mast, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination. The president’s corpse was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincoln’s body was boarded onto a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois , where he had lived before becoming president.

Tens of thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid fever in 1862, were interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield. As the nation mourned, Union soldiers were hot on the trail of John Wilkes Booth, who many in the audience had immediately recognized. After fleeing the capital, he and an accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at the home of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth’s leg. (Mudd’s actions earned him a life sentence that was later commuted). They then sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia. On April 26, Union troops surrounded the Virginia farmhouse where Booth and Herold were hiding out and set fire to it, hoping to flush the fugitives out. Herold surrendered but Booth remained inside.

As the blaze intensified, a sergeant shot Booth in the neck, allegedly because the assassin had raised his gun as if to shoot. Carried out of the building alive, he lingered for three hours before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words: “Useless, useless.” Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. They included David Herold and Mary Surratt , the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers. Tags The Assassination of the President [ushistory.org] 34f. The Assassination of the President Library of Congress John Wilkes Booth leaps from the President's box at Ford's Theater after shooting Lincoln and stabbing Major Rathbone. On April 11, 1865, two days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln delivered a speech outlining his plans for peace and reconstruction. In the audience was John Wilkes Booth, a successful actor, born and raised in Maryland. Booth was a fervent believer in slavery and white supremacy.

Upon hearing Lincoln's words, he said to a companion, "Now, by God, I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make." After failing in two attempts earlier in the year to kidnap the President, Booth decided Lincoln must be killed. His conspiracy was grand in design. Booth and his collaborators decided to assassinate the President, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward all in the same evening. Lincoln decided to attend a British comedy, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theater, starring the famous actress Laura Keene. Ulysses S. Grant had planned to accompany the President and his wife, but during the day he decided to see his son in New Jersey. Attending the play that night with the Lincolns were Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, the daughter of a prominent Senator. Library of Congress This broadside announces the assassinations of President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward. In fact, Seward survived the attack. In the middle of the play that night, Booth slipped into the entryway to the President's box, holding a dagger in his left hand and a Derringer pistol in his right.

He fired the pistol six inches from Lincoln and slashed Rathbone's arm with his knife. Booth then vaulted over the front of the President's box, caught his right leg in a flag and landed on the stage, breaking his leg. He waved his dagger and shouted what is reported to be Sic semper tyrannis — Latin for "thus be it ever to tyrants." Some reported that he said, "The South is avenged." He then ran limpingly out of the theater, jumped on his horse, and rode off towards Virginia. The bullet entered Lincoln's head just behind his left ear, tore through his brain and lodged just behind his right eye. The injury was mortal. Lincoln was brought to a nearby boarding house, where he died the next morning. The other targets escaped death. Lewis Powell, one of Booth's accomplices, went to Seward's house, stabbed and seriously wounded the Secretary of State, but Seward survived. Another accomplice, George Atzerodt, could not bring himself to attempt to assassinate Vice President Johnson. Two weeks later, on April 26, Union cavalry trapped Booth in a Virginia tobacco barn. The soldiers had orders not to shoot and decided to burn him out of the barn.

A fire was started. Before Booth could even react, Sergeant Boston Corbett took aim and fatally shot Booth. The dying assassin was dragged to a porch where his last words uttered were, "Useless ... useless!" The conspirators in the President's assassination were tried in front of a military tribunal known as the Hunter Commission. A train carried Lincoln's body on a circuitous path back home for burial in Springfield, Illinois. A mourning nation turned out by the hundreds of thousands to say good-bye to their President, the first to fall by an assassin's bullet. John Wilkes Booth - American Civil War - HISTORY.com Google The celebrated actor Junius Brutus Booth immigrated to the United States from England in the early 1820s and settled his family in Harford County, Maryland , where the ninth of his 10 children, John Wilkes, was born on May 10, 1838. In 1846, it was revealed that Junius Booth had neglected to divorce his first wife before eloping with his second, Mary Ann, 25 years before. The scandal made an impression on young John Wilkes, who was fiercely proud of his illustrious family name. Did You Know?

Booth had performed for President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in November 1863. After his father’s death in 1852, Booth left his studies at the prestigious military school St. Timothy’s Hall. In 1855, he followed his older brothers, Junius Jr. and Edwin, into the acting profession, making his debut in Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Charles Street Theatre in Baltimore. Booth worked for a year at a Philadelphia theater before moving to the Marshall Theatre in Richmond, Virginia , where he became known for his dark good looks, his intensely physical, almost acrobatic, performances and his popularity with women. In October 1859, Booth–who, like many Marylanders, supported slavery–was shocked and galvanized by the abolitionist John Brown’s bloody raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Booth briefly enlisted in the Richmond militia and witnessed Brown’s hanging in December. That summer, he signed on as the leading man in a touring theater company. Booth was about to take on the part of Hamlet in October 1860 when he accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a co-star’s pistol.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president one month later, and Booth watched the South move toward secession while recuperating in Philadelphia. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln declared martial law in Maryland as part of an effort to keep the state from seceding. Angry and frustrated, Booth nonetheless promised his mother he would never enlist in the Confederate Army. He continued his acting career, drawing crowds and impressing critics from St. Louis to Boston. In November 1863, he performed in The Marble Heart at Washington’s Ford’s Theatre. In the audience were President and Mrs. Lincoln. It was the only time Lincoln would see Booth perform. In late May 1864, Booth invested in an oil company in western Pennsylvania . After seeing no immediate profit, he backed out of the operation, losing most of his savings. By that time, he had already begun working on his conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln. He performed less and less frequently, and by late 1864 had gone into debt. Booth attended Lincoln’s second inaugural in early March with his secret fiancée Lucy Hale, the daughter of an abolitionist New Hampshire senator.

In what would be his last performance, Booth appeared in front of a full house at Ford’s in The Apostate on March 28, 1865. Less than a week later, Confederate forces evacuated Richmond, and within two weeks, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops. As Washington exploded in celebration, Booth attended another Lincoln speech on April 11, reacting strongly to Lincoln’s suggestion that he would pursue voting rights for blacks. Booth angrily told his co-conspirator, Davy Herold: “Now, by God, I’ll put him through.” Three days later, at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth made good on his word. Tags Abraham Lincolns assassination: 5 facts you may not know - CBS News CBS News Stephen Smith CBS News April 14, 2015, 8:31 AM 5 facts you may not know about Lincoln's assassination Next From the moment Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States on November 6, 1860, he was no stranger to death threats. In fact, he compiled a vast array of menacing letters in a White House desk folder - labeled "A" for assassination.

151 years after Lincoln's death, a look at the president, his assassin and the nation's reaction Despite pervasive anti-Lincoln sentiment in the South, the president never feared for his life. Yet he did have a deep foreboding about his demise, according to historian Harold Holzer , one of the country's leading authorities on Lincoln. "He didn't believe assassination was in the American spirit," Holzer said. "He was also fatalistic and said, 'If someone wants to get at me, there is nothing I can do to prevent it.'" There was certainly nothing Lincoln could do on the evening of April 14, 1865 when John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theatre. The stage actor fatally shot Lincoln in the back of the head, triggering a manhunt for the murderer and his conspirators and a long period of national mourning. While the major events surrounding Lincoln's death are well chronicled, some fascinating details are less known. Read on to learn five surprising anecdotes about the 16th president of the United States and his assassin. 1.

Lincoln once saw John Wilkes Booth in a play Lithograph depicting Abraham Lincoln's assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, being goaded by a Mephistophelian figure to shoot the unsuspecting president, who is visible in a theater box beyond. John L. Magee/Library of Congress Lincoln not only saw John Wilkes Booth perform in a play but he saw him at Ford's Theatre, which would become "the scene of Booth's final act," says Harold Holzer, author of the new book, "President Lincoln Assassinated!" Just a few days before delivering the Gettysburg Address in 1863, Lincoln went to the theater to see a play called "The Marble Heart" - a translated French production in which Booth played the villain. During the play, according to Holzer, Booth would direct many of his villainous speeches directly toward the presidential box, prompting a theater companion to tell Lincoln: "He almost seems to be reciting these lines to you." Lincoln is said to have replied: "He does talk very sharp at me, doesn't he?" 2.

Booth may have come close to killing Lincoln six weeks earlier A scene in front of the Capitol during Lincoln's second inauguration, 1865, just six weeks before his assassination. AP Photo Six weeks before he successfully killed Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth displayed how easy it was to get to the president. On Inauguration Day, March 5, 1865, Booth positioned himself behind stanchions in the Capitol Rotunda. He lay in wait as Lincoln came out of the Senate chamber to head out to the portico to deliver his second inaugural address. Booth lunged beyond the stanchions with a crazed look in his eyes, according to the person who stopped him. Holzer says that was a moment when Booth may have shot Lincoln at close range. While he didn't pull the trigger, he didn't leave the venue. Photographs of the inauguration show Booth lurking in an upper balcony watching Lincoln give one of his most renowned speeches. "Murder was on his mind for quite a few weeks," Holzer said. 3. Booth vowed Lincoln's speech on April 11, 1865 would be his last U.S.

President Abraham Lincoln is seen in a stereo photo card from the archives of the Library of Congress taken by U.S. government photographer Lewis Emory Walker in Washington February, 1865. REUTERS/Library of Congress/Anthony Berger On April 11, 1865, the president delivered a speech on Reconstruction from a White House window. In the speech, Lincoln declared that the time had come to give voting rights to African-Americans, becoming the first president in American history to make such a proposition. On the White House lawn listening to the speech was Booth and one of his co-conspirators. According to one witness, Holzer says, Booth bristled at Lincoln's words, declaring that the president's message "means negro equality." He then turned to his comrade and said: "That's the last speech he'll ever make." Booth made good on his word just three nights later. 4. Booth also wanted to kill Ulysses S. Grant on April 14, 1865 This is an undated photo of a sketch of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

AP Photo The advertisements for "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater on Good Friday in 1865 promised that President Lincoln and the First Lady would be accompanied by General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. The announcement was welcome news to Booth. "Booth believed he could kill both of them," Holzer says. "His plan was to dismember the Union government." But Booth's grandiose plans were foiled by tension between the spouses of the Civil War hero and commander in chief. Gen. Grant's wife, Julia, despised Mary Todd Lincoln and dreaded the prospect of spending the evening with the first lady. Accordingly, the Grants declined the invitation, saying they had planned to visit their children in New Jersey. Had Julia Grant and Mary Lincoln been on better terms, the tragedy at Ford's Theater likely would have unfolded very differently. Grant would have either become one of Booth's victims or he would have stopped the assassination, Holzer said. Grant was confident that the latter would have happened. "It was something he regretted for the rest of his life," Holzer said. 5.

Most of the blood relics from Ford's Theatre are not Lincoln's A copy of a hand coloured 1870 lithographic print by Gibson & Co. provided by the U.S. Library of Congress shows John Wilkes Booth shooting U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as he sits in the presidential box at Ford's Theatre in Washington April 14, 1865. Major Henry Rathbone rushes to try to stop Booth as Rathbone's fiancee Clara Harris (L) and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln (2nd L) look on. REUTERS/Gibson & Co./U.S. Library of Congress Much blood was shed at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865, but according to Holzer, very little of it belonged to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had a compressed wound in his head and doctors had to stick their fingers in the wound so that he could breathe again. The wound was certainly fatal, doctors said, but there was very little blood. According to Holzer, much of what little blood Lincoln did shed ended up on the dress of Laura Keene, the actress who rushed up from the stage and was said to have cradled the president's head on her lap before doctors arrived.

The man closest to Lincoln when he was mortally wounded, Major Henry Rathbone, would also be attacked by Booth. Rathbone, a military officer who was accompanying the daughter of a senator at the theater, tried to stop the assassin from escaping the presidential box. Instead, Booth slashed Rathbone in the arm with a Bowie knife, opening an artery. "Rathbone bled all over the place," Holzer said. "It was spurting and nobody was paying attention to him because the president was lying on the floor of the box." Assassination of Abraham Lincoln AN OVERVIEW OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH'S ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN John Wilkes Booth , born May 10, 1838, was an actor who performed throughout the country in many plays. He was the lead in some of William Shakespeare's most famous works. Additionally, he was a racist and Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge.

In late summer of 1864 Booth began developing plans to kidnap Lincoln, take him to Richmond (the Confederate capital), and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war. By January, 1865, Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold , Michael O'Laughlen , John Surratt , Lewis Powell (alias Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt , and David Herold . Additionally, Booth met with Dr. Samuel Mudd both in Maryland (where Mudd lived) and Washington, and he began using Mary Surratt's boardinghouse to meet with his co-conspirators. On March 17, 1865, the group planned to capture Lincoln who was scheduled to attend a play at a hospital located on the outskirts of Washington. However, the president changed plans and remained in the capital. Thus, Booth's plot to kidnap Lincoln failed. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Two days later Lincoln spoke from the White House to a crowd gathered outside.

Booth was present as Lincoln suggested in his speech that voting rights be granted to certain blacks. Infuriated, Booth's plans now turned in the direction of assassination. On the morning of Friday, April 14, 1865 , Booth dropped by Ford's Theatre and learned that the president and General Grant were planning to attend the evening performance of Our American Cousin. He held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theater (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House where Johnson resided. Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward . Herold would accompany Powell. All attacks were to take place simultaneously at approximately 10:15 P.M. that night. Booth hoped the resulting chaos and weakness in the government would lead to a comeback for the South. The presidential party arrived at Ford's at about 8:30 P.M. Armed with a single shot derringer and a hunting knife , Booth arrived at Ford's at about 9:30 P.M.

Joseph Burroughs, a boy who worked at the theater, held his horse in the rear alley. Booth went next door to a saloon for a drink. He entered the front of Ford's Theatre around 10:07 P.M. Slowly he made his way toward the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Major Henry Rathbone. Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker of the Metropolitan Police Force, had left his post. At about 10:15 P.M. Booth opened the door to the State Box, shot Lincoln in the back of the head at near point-blank range, and struggled with Rathbone. Booth stabbed Rathbone in the arm and jumped over 11 feet to the stage below. When he hit the floor he snapped the fibula bone in his left leg just above the ankle. Many in the theater thought he yelled "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Latin for "As Always to Tyrants"). Mrs. Lincoln screamed, Booth flashed his knife at the audience, and he made his way across the stage in front of more than 1,000 people. Everything happened so fast that no one had time to stop him.

Booth went out the back door, climbed on his horse, and escaped from the city using the Navy Yard Bridge. Atzerodt made no attempt to kill Johnson, and Powell stabbed Seward but failed to kill him. Herold escaped from the capital using the same bridge as Booth. The two met in Maryland and stopped briefly around midnight at Mary Surratt's leased tavern in Surrattsville where Mrs. Surratt had earlier left the message to have weapons ready and had dropped off a wrapped package that contained Booth's field glasses. About 4:00 A.M. Booth and Herold arrived at Dr. Mudd's home where Mudd set and splinted Booth's broken leg. Back in Washington Lincoln never regained consciousness and passed away at 7:22 A.M. on the morning of April 15, 1865, at the Petersen House (across the street from the theater). Booth and Herold departed from Dr. Mudd's during the afternoon of April 15 and traveled south. Federal authorities caught up with them at Garrett's farm near Port Royal, Virginia, early in the morning of April 26. Hiding in a barn, Harold gave up.

Booth refused, so the barn was set on fire. Booth still didn't come out and was shot to death by Sergeant Boston Corbett . Corbett had not been under orders to do this but felt other soldiers might be shot by Booth. Booth's body was searched, and a diary was among the things found. Booth's remains were returned to Washington where positive identification was made and an autopsy performed. Within days the government arrested Booth's co-conspirators (except John Surratt). A military tribunal tried them, and all were found guilty. Mrs. Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold were all hanged on July 7, 1865. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlen, and Arnold were given life terms in prison. Edman "Ned" Spangler , a Ford's stagehand who was convicted of helping Booth escape from the theater, received a sentence of six years in prison. The convictions of Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd have been hotly debated throughout the years. John Surratt escaped to Canada and then to Europe. He was captured abroad and was tried in 1867 in a civil court.

The trial ended with a deadlocked jury, and Surratt went free. O'Laughlen died in prison ( Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West) in 1867. President Andrew Johnson pardoned Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler early in 1869. People have long wondered if there was a grand conspiracy behind the assassination of President Lincoln. For a look at the various theories CLICK HERE . I will try to help if you have a question on the Lincoln assassination. WITH MALICE TOWARD ONE by Mike Person Mike Person's With Malice Toward One takes a new approach to teaching students about Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It combines the storytelling of a short novel with the sequential artwork found in comics and graphic novels to create images to reinforce what was just read. Each page of prose is recreated on the opposite page leaving a lasting effect for students of all ability levels. To order Mike Person's book please CLICK HERE . THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION ENCYCLOPEDIA by Dr. Edward Steers, Jr. Lincoln assassination expert and scholar Dr. Edward Steers, Jr. has written The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia.

The first book of its kind, The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia is a truly indispensable guide to one of the most dramatic and fascinating events in our nation's history. It is available at the Surratt House Museum's gift shop and via mail orders. To visit Dr. Steers' website please CLICK HERE . BACKSTAGE AT THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION by Thomas A. Bogar This is the untold story of Lincoln�s assassination: the forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night, and what each of them witnessed in the chaos-streaked hours before John Wilkes Booth was discovered to be the culprit. In Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, historian Thomas A. Bogar delves into previously unpublished sources to tell the story of Lincoln�s assassination from behind the curtain. To order Tom Bogar's book please CLICK HERE . The sketch at the top of the page is a Currier and Ives print from the Library of Congress. The sketch shows Henry Rathbone reacting earlier than he actually did when Booth entered the State Box. Rathbone was still watching the play when Booth fired the fatal shot.

The photograph of Booth is also from the Library of Congress as are the images of Lincoln at the Petersen House, the ticket to see Our American Cousin, and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. For a list of books related to the assassination, please CLICK HERE . This is not a commercial website. None of the photographs and artwork exhibited herein are being sold by the webmaster. Some photographs and artwork are believed to be in the public domain. Any copyrighted photographs and artwork are used in the context of this website strictly for educational, research and historical purposes only, under the "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright Act, (US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Section 107). Anyone claiming copyright to any of the posted photographs or artwork please inform the webmaster of such and it will be duly noted or removed. Questions, comments, corrections or suggestions can be sent to R. J. Norton , the creator and maintainer of this site. All text except reprinted articles was written by the webmaster, ©1996-2017. All rights reserved.

It is unlawful to copy, reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or hard copy, including reproducing on another web page, or in any information or retrieval system without the express written permission of the author. The website was born on December 29, 1996. Web design by Crazy Boston Corbett Killed John Wilkes Booth By Eric Niderost Mad as a Hatter – John Wilkes Booth’s killer achieved instant fame—but folks soon realized he was just plain crazy Wartime photo of Boston Corbett John Wilkes Booth grimaced in agony as he staggered around inside a tobacco barn near Port Royal, Virginia, on April 26, 1865. His accomplice, David Herold, had already surrendered to troopers of the 16th New York Cavalry surrounding the barn, but the handsome actor who had shot President Abraham Lin­coln at Ford’s Theatre 12 days earlier refused to give up despite the pain of a fractured leg. For Booth and his pursuers, it was a desperate moment. Detectives Luther Baker and Everton Conger, accompanying the 16th NY, wanted to set fire to the barn to smoke out the assassin. But 1st Lt.

Edward Doherty, commander of the New York detachment, was reluctant to do so, preferring to rush the barn in the morning. Then a small, wiry sergeant known as Boston Corbett came to Doherty and asked if he could enter the barn alone. The lieutenant refused, and Conger went ahead with his plan, setting fire to some hay piled against the barn’s rear. Even after flames engulfed the structure, Booth still refused to come out. Watching him through a crack, the sergeant noticed that Booth seemed to be limping toward a door. Corbett later testified that he saw Booth aiming his carbine. “My mind was upon him attentively,” Corbett insisted, “to see that he did no harm….I took steady aim on my arm, and shot him though a large crack in the barn.” Booth pitched over, mortally wounded in the neck. He died two hours later. Corbett’s steady aim would transform him into a celebrity—the man who had rid the world of Lincoln’s assassin. In the weeks that followed, the sergeant drew admiring crowds wherever he went. It quickly became apparent, however, that there was something odd about the Union cavalryman.

Instead of signing his name when asked for his autograph, Corbett often penned lengthy passages about the Almighty. And while at first he modestly claimed that he was just a soldier doing his job during Booth’s pursuit, Corbett began telling people that God had made him “the agent of His swift retribution on the assassin of our beloved President, Abraham Lincoln.” His strange behavior became more noticeable when he discovered the downside of his new celebrity. Many people worshipped him, but he also encountered detractors. Crank letters began arriving, some of them from Booth admirers. The volume of hate mail increased, occasionally accompanied by death threats. Corbett’s fears eventually blossomed into full-blown paranoia, and he took to pointing his gun at autograph seekers. More of his admirers began falling away as unsavory facts emerged about Lincoln’s avenger. Drunken Hatter Mends His Ways Thomas Corbett had been born in London in 1832, but his family emigrated to New York City when he was 7. He grew up there, becoming a hat-maker. Soon after he married, his wife died during childbirth along with their infant. Devastated, he moved to Boston and began drinking heavily.

One night the drunken hatter encountered a street preacher whose message apparently filtered into his befuddled brain, instantly trans­forming him into a religious zealot. Corbett grew his hair long, in imitation of Jesus, and thereafter called himself “Boston,” after the city where he had been converted. His newfound religious fervor quickly flowered into full-blown fanaticism. He upset fellow Methodists with his loud shouts of “Glory to God!” He also adopted some bizarre affectations—adding “er” to all his words in prayers and supplications, for example. “Oh Lord-er,” Corbett would yell, “Hear-er our prayer-er!” The young hatter’s zeal reached new heights on the night of July 16, 1858, after he spied two prostitutes walking down the street. Feeling guilty that they inspired lust in him, he returned home and read Mark 19:12, which quotes Christ as saying “they have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of God’s sake.” That was all Corbett needed to see. He got a pair of scissors and calmly cut an opening on his scrotum, pulled out the testes and cut them off.

Unfazed, he then attended a prayer meeting and took a walk before having a hearty meal. By the time Corbett finally sought medical help, an enormous amount of blood had collected in the swollen, blackened scrotum. The doctor drained the wound, and within a few weeks the hatter had fully recovered. Corbett now became a part-time preacher, roaming the Boston dockyards and sermonizing burly Irish stevedores and longshoremen. Many let him know that they resented his advice. When one angry Irishman knocked him off his impromptu “pulpit” Corbett was unfazed. “You may bring all Ireland with you,” he exclaimed, “and it won’t frighten me in the least.” By this time he was having trouble holding down a job. He insisted his employers must be what he considered “godly” at all times, and he would stop working whenever he heard any cursing, then fall to his knees and pray for the offender. Eunuch Joins the Union Army When the Civil War broke out, Corbett was faced with a decision: Should he become a pacifist, or join the Union Army?

After much prayer, he chose to become a soldier, fighting for what he had decided was the Union’s righteous cause against the traitorous South. But he would follow a formula whenever he fired on the enemy—he’d first say, “God have mercy on your souls.” Nor surprisingly, Corbett was in hot water almost from the first day he joined the army. He became his regiment’s self-appointed moral guardian. During a review, for example, when the colonel roundly cursed the men as they stood at attention, Corbett stepped out of the ranks to reprimand his commanding officer. He spent some time in the guardhouse after that. Another infraction nearly got the former hatter executed. When he abandoned his post one night, insisting that his enlistment was up at midnight, the army disagreed. He was quickly arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot. For a time his life hung in the balance, but in the end the Army simply expelled him. Corbett didn’t stay a civilian for long, however, next enlisting as a trooper in the 16th New York Cavalry.

He got his first real chance at combat in 1864, when his unit had a brush with Confederate raiders under John Singleton Mosby. Cut off from his comrades, Corbett continued to fight even though the odds were against him. True to form, Corbett shouted, “Amen! Glory to God!” each time his bullets found their mark. He reportedly killed seven enemies before he ran out of ammunition. Only then did he surrender. Sent to Andersonville, Corbett later claimed, “There God was good to me, sparing my life.” He also recalled “a score of souls were converted, right on the spot where I lay for three months without any shelter.” Yet he was reduced to a near-skeleton before he was lucky enough to be released from the prison, and had to spend several weeks in a Maryland hospital before rejoining the Army as a sergeant in Company L, 16th New York Cavalry. From God’s Avenger to Kansas Farmer April 14, 1865, found Boston Corbett in Washington, D.C., praying that God would allow him to be an instrument of his wrath and avenge the president’s assassination. As we’ve seen, his prayer was answered.

But after the novelty of his newfound fame began to wear off, the cavalry sergeant sought an early release from the Army. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton refused. Corbett invested a lot of time trying to get his share of the reward that the government had offered for bringing Lincoln’s killer to justice. It was a slow process, complicated by the fact that others—particu­larly detective Luther Baker—sought to discredit the little sergeant, claiming that the 16th’s troopers had specific orders not to shoot, since the plan was to take Booth alive. Yet Baker and Conger would later testify under oath that there had been no specific orders to shoot or not shoot. Eventually the cavalryman did receive a share of the reward money, altogether $1,653.84. He started making hats again after mustering out, but his mental problems apparently worsened. Quick to anger and increasingly paranoid, he now slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow. It was said he feared assassination, and also kept a wary eye out for Booth’s ghost. Corbett became a full-time minister for the Camden, N.J., Siloam Methodist Episcopal Mission in 1869.

But he still couldn’t seem to find any peace, so in the spring of 1878 he pulled up stakes and moved to Concordia, the county seat of Cloud County, Kan., rol­ling into town on a buckboard pulled by a black horse named “Billy.” Albert T. Reed, a resident who remembered Corbett’s ar­rival, recalled seeing “a small, insignificant looking man, with a thin, scraggly beard, and he wore an old army cap….” Reed re­called that Corbett, who had hair that “hung to his shoulders,” was armed with two pistols. The ex-hatter filed a claim on 80 acres about seven miles south of town, where he quickly established a repu­tation as a recluse—though he didn’t try to conceal his identity. When word spread that he was famous, locals invited him to give a lecture on the Booth affair and his experiences at Andersonville. To everyone’s surprise he accepted. But when Corbett showed up, he refused to say a word about Booth or Andersonville, instead haranguing the crowd at length about the need to repent. For the most part, Corbett remained aloof from his new neighbors.

At first he hired four men to work his land. They planted some corn, but he himself never appeared in the fields until the evening. Eventually he gave up farming by proxy and took to raising chickens and a few head of livestock. The source of Corbett’s funds soon became a topic of speculation. He paid for everything in cash, yet he never worked, spending most of his time either wandering on the plains or holed up inside his sparsely furnished dugout, answering his mail. He had slightly more contact with one neighbor, a Mrs. Randall who sold him milk and butter, than with anyone else. To her he confided that he wanted to be buried on his own property, and he showed her and another woman a grave he had already dug near his dugout. He also showed them a blanket, saying that he wanted to be wrapped in it when his time came. Corbett was only in his late 40s at the time and in seemingly good health, but phantom assassins clearly lurked in his troubled mind. Then a violent incident strained relations between Corbett and his neighbors. What would be known as the “baseball incident” took place on a Sunday morning, when some local boys were playing baseball.

Reading scripture while driving past in his buckboard, Corbett became incensed that his neighbors were indulging in what he saw as a “profane” game on the Sabbath. Stopping his horse, he took a pistol from his belt and shouted, “It’s wicked to play base­ball on the Lord’s Day!” brandishing his weapon. The frightened youngsters and by­standers quickly scattered. The next day a warrant was sworn out for Corbett, who was summoned to appear in the office of Concordia’s Justice of the Peace to stand trial. Practically the whole town had turned out to see the “entertainment.” Corbett showed up fully armed, though at first he seemed placid enough. But as a series of witnesses took the stand to testify about his violent outburst, the little hatter grew more grim. When the adults who had been watching the baseball game related how Corbett had pointed his pistol at them, threatening to shoot, the former hatter erupted in a torrent of vehement denials, pointing his pistol at the witnesses. “That’s a lie, lie, lie!” he shrilled.

“I’ll shoot any man who says such things against me!” Ironically the fiery little man had proved the prosecution’s case against him—though nobody was prepared to sit around pondering the fine points of the law at that juncture. “I can tell you there was scattering,” a witness remembered, adding that “they trampled each other getting to the doors and windows.” Somehow the officials managed to calm Corbett, who left the office unmolested. All thought of further legal action against the former hatter was shelved. The Kansans realized he was not exactly normal, and was perhaps even insane—but still felt great sympathy for him. Madman Goes Missing for Good After the baseball incident, a local politician managed to get Corbett a job as a doorkeeper in the Kansas State Legislature at Topeka. It was a well-meaning gesture that ignored Corbett’s history of irrational outbursts. For a month all went well; Corbett stuck to his duties and became something of a tourist attraction, since folks were still curious to see the man who had killed John Wilkes Booth. But the hatter once again went off the rails on February 15, 1887.

There are several versions of what happened to set him off this time. According to one account, he overheard blasphemous remarks being made during a legislative session’s opening prayer. Or perhaps there was no real reason, and the personal demons he had battled for so long finally got the better of him. In any case, Corbett started running around the capitol corridors raving, waving a revolver as the legislators ran for cover. After officials subdued and examined him, he was sent to the Kansas State Insane Asylum. Corbett’s stay there seems to have exacerbated his problems. He had hallucinations that assassins were stalking the hallways or lying in wait for him. A month into his incarceration he stole a knife and assaulted an attendant, apparently in the course of an escape attempt. On May 26, 1888, while Corbett and others were outside exercising, the wily former cavalryman spotted a horse tethered nearby and tried again. When their attendant was momentarily distracted, Corbett galloped away. Fliers were circulated advertising his escape and warning that he was a dangerous man. A few days later a livery stable owner reported that a man had dropped off a horse, asking that the asylum be notified of its whereabouts.

It was vintage Corbett—he was concerned that his horse “borrowing” might be construed as theft. After that he sought refuge in Neodesha, Kan., at the home of Irwin DeFord, the son of Captain Harvey DeFord, who had spent time as a POW with him. The younger DeFord hid Corbett in a barn for a few days, and when the fugitive decided to move on he was given a horse, a blanket and some money—and told never to come back. Corbett readily agreed, telling DeFord that he was “heading to Mexico.” Upon leaving, he autographed DeFord’s wife’s memory book on June 1, 1888. It would be the last documented appearance of Boston Corbett. The strange little man who had leapt to fame in 1865 now returned to obscurity. All sorts of stories followed in his wake, including sightings all over the country. Some believe that Corbett settled in the forests of Hinckley, Minn., and died in the great Hinckley fire of 1894. The truth will likely never be known.

Eric Niderost won the 2005 Army Historical Foundation Dis­tin­­guished Writing Award. Article originally published in the October 2010 issue of Civil War Times. More John Wilkes Booth Articles Was playwright George H. Booth related to John Wilkes Booth? Tell me about George H. Booth (b. 1840 Chicopee Falls, MA and d. 1927 Madrid, IA): Was he related to John Wilkes Booth? His play, The Drunkard’s Dream, is in the Library of Congress; did he have other published works? Craig Krouch ? ? ? Dear Mr. Krouch, As far as I can determine, George … Biography and Images of John Wilkes Booth, Assassin of Abraham Lincoln Images of John Wilkes Booth Booth (left) acting with his two brothers in Julius Caesar John Wilkes Booth Biographic Sketch of John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth was the ninth of ten children born to the famous, eccentric, and hard-drinking actor, Junius Booth. The Booth family--along with their slaves--lived on a farm near Bel Air, Maryland. Booth made his own stage debut at age seventeen in Baltimore, appearing in Richard III.

His highly successful acting career for a Shakespearean company based in Richmond took him all over the United States. (On November 9, 1863, Abraham Lincoln watched Booth play Raphael in the play Marble Heart in the same box at Ford's Theatre that he would later be assassinated.) Booth became politically active in the 1850s, joining the Know-Nothing Party, an organization devoted to reducing the stream of immigrants into the United States. Booth ardently supported the institution of slavery and in 1859 joined a Virginia company that aided in the capture of John Brown after his raid at Harper's Ferry. Booth was an eyewitness to Brown's execution. During the Civil War, Booth worked as a Confederate secret agent. He met frequently with the heads of the Secret Service, Jacob Thompson and Clement Clay, in Montreal. John Wilkes Booth's Role in the Conspiracy In the summer of 1864, Booth began formulating plans to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. The plan called for Lincoln to be taken south to Richmond, where he would be held until exchanged for Confederate prisoners-of-war.

Booth recruited friends and known southern-sympathizers for his mission, including the eight persons tried before the 1865 military commission. Some who resisted his persuasive efforts, such as actor Samuel Chester, became key government witnesses in the trial. On March 15, Booth and his most of his fellow conspirators met at a Restaurant three blocks from Ford's Theatre to plan their abduction of the President. Soon thereafter, Booth heard that the President would be attending a matinee performance of Still Waters Run Deep on March 17 at the Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of Washington. This, he decided, would the perfect opportunity for a kidnapping and--according to John Surratt--Booth developed a plan to intercept Lincoln's carriage enroute to the play. Booth's plans were foiled, however, when the President changed his plans and decided instead to speak to the 140th Indiana Regiment and present a captured flag. Booth then turned to plan to kidnap the President at a future performance at Ford's Theatre, where the actor had several friends, but the plan failed to win the support of some of his co-conspirators, who dismissed it as infeasible.

On April 14, 1865, after the fall of Richmond rendered moot his kidnap scheme, Booth set in motion his final plan--one of assassination. Booth may have made the decision to kill the President after hearing Lincoln deliver a speech urging Negro suffrage, according to Booth's former friend, Louis Weichmann. Weichmann spoke of his viewing of the the President's speech with Booth: "I had never seen Mr. Lincoln up close and I knew he was a tall man, however nothing could have prepared me for the sight of him. A long shadow did he have. And his arms, when at his sides, touched near his knees. Very professionally he said that there would never be any suffrage based on differences in the way people look. Upon this, Booth turned to the two of us and said, “That means nigger citizenship. Now by God I’ll put him through!” Booth tried to convince several of his co-conspirators to participate in his plot to kill several high government officials ( including the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and probably General Grant), but found few willing.

Around 10:15, as the President and the First Lady watched a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre, Booth, showed a card to a presidential aide and was allowed entry through a lobby door leading to the presidential box. Reaching the box, Booth pushed open the door. The President sat in his armchair, one hand on the railing and the other holding to the side a flag that decorated the box, in order to gain a better view of a person in the orchestra. From a distance of about four feet behind Lincoln, Booth fired a bullet into the President's brain as he shouted "Revenge for the South!" (according to one witness) or "Freedom!" (according to another). Major Rathbone, seated with the President in the State Box, sprang up to grab the assassin, but Booth wrested himself away after slashing the general with a large knife. Booth rushed to the front of the box as Rathbone reached for him again, catching some of his clothes as Booth leapt over the railing. Rathbone's grab was enough to cause Booth to fall roughly on the stage below, where he badly fractured his leg.

Rising from the stage, Booth shouted "Sic semper tyrannus!" and ran across the stage and toward the back of the theatre. Booth rushed out the back door of the theatre to a horse being held for him by Joseph Burroughs (better known as "Peanuts"). Booth mounted the horse and swept rapidly down an alley, then to the left toward F Street--and disappeared into the Washington darkness. Death of John Wilkes Booth Near the banks of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, investigators closed in on Booth and his companion, David Herold, on April 26. Everton Conger and two other investigators pulled Willie Jett out of a bed in a hotel in Bowling Green to demand, "Where are the two men who came with you across the river?" Jett knew that Conger meant Booth and Herold. When Jett had talked with the two conspirators they had made no effort to hide their identity. Herold had boldly declared, "We are the assassinators of the President. Yonder is J. Wilkes Booth, the man who killed Lincoln." Jett told Conger that the men they sought "are on the road to Port Royal" at the home of "Mr.

Garrett's." Reaching Garrett's farm, the government party ordered an old man, Garrett, out of his home and asked, "Where are the two men who stopped here at your house?" "Gone to the woods," Garrett answered. Unsatisfied with Garrett's response, Conger told one of his men, "Bring me a lariat rope here, and I will put that man up to the top of one of those locust trees." One of his sons broke in, "Don't hurt the old man; he is scared; I will tell you where the men are--...in the barn." Finding the suspects to be in the Garrett barn, Conger gave Booth and Herold five minutes to get out or, he said, he would set fire to it.

Booth responded, "Let us have a little time to consider it." After some discussion in the barn, Booth proposed that if the capturing party were withdrawn "one hundred yards from the door, I will come out and fight you." When his proposal--and a second one for a withdrawal to fifty yards--was rejected, Booth said in a theatrical voice, "Well, my brave boys, prepare a stretcher for me." As Conger ordered pine boughs placed against the barn to start a fire, Booth announced, "There's a man who wants to come out." After being called "a damned coward" by his partner, David Herold stepped out of the door of the barn and into the hands of his capturers. Conger lit the fire minutes later. With flames rising around him, Booth, carrying a carbine, started toward the door of the barn. A shot rang out from the gun of Sergeant Boston Corbett. Booth fell. Soldiers carried Booth out on the grass. Booth turned to Conger and said, "Tell mother I die for my country." Moved into Garrett's house, Booth revived somewhat. Repeatedly he begged of his captors, "Kill me, kill me." Booth again weakened.

Two or three hours after being shot, he died. US Presidents Murdered By Rothschild Banksters Lincoln's Private War: The Trail of Blood 7-12-9 Lincoln's Birthday gives us an appropriate opportunity to examine some deep American traditions which may also give us some unusual insights into the "principalities and powers" of Ephesians Chapter 6. Abraham Lincoln worked valiantly to prevent the Rothschild's attempts to involve themselves in financing the Civil War. Interestingly, it was the Czar of Russia who provided the needed assistance against the British and French, who were among the driving forces behind the secession of the South and her subsequent financing. Russia intervened by providing naval forces for the Union blockade of the South in European waters, and by letting both countries know that if they attempted to join the Confederacy with military forces, they would also have to go to war with Russia. The Rothschild interests did succeed, through their agent Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, to force a bill (the National Banking Act) through Congress creating a federally chartered central bank that had the power to issue U.S. Bank Notes.

Afterward, Lincoln warned the American people: "The money power preys upon the nation in time of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me, and causes me to tremble for the safety of our country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed. "<#4>4 Lincoln continued to fight against the central bank, and some now believe that it was his anticipated success in influencing Congress to limit the life of the Bank of the United States to just the war years that was the motivating factor behind his assassination. The Lone Assassin Myth is Born Modern researchers have uncovered evidence of a massive conspiracy that links the following parties to the Bank of Rothschild:<#5>5 Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, John Wilkes Booth, his eight co-conspirators, and over seventy government officials and businessmen involved in the conspiracy.

When Booth's diary was recovered by Stanton's troops, it was delivered to Stanton. When it was later produced during the investigation, eighteen pages had been ripped out. These pages, containing the aforementioned names,were later found in the attic of one of Stanton's descendants. >From Booth's trunk, a coded message was found that linked him directly to Judah P. Benjamin, the Civil War campaign manager in the South for the House of Rothschild. When the war ended, the key to the code was found in Benjamin's possession. The assassin, portrayed as a crazed lone gunman with a few radical friends, escaped by way of the only bridge in Washington not guarded by Stanton's troops. "Booth" was located hiding in a barn near Port Royal, Virginia, three days after escaping from Washington. He was shot by a soldier named Boston Corbett, who fired without orders. Whether or not the man killed was Booth is still a matter of contention, but the fact remains that whoever it was, he had no chance to identify himself. It was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who made the final identification. Some now believe that a dupe was used and that the real John Wilkes Booth escaped with Stanton's assistance.

Mary Todd Lincoln, upon hearing of her husband's death, began screaming, "Oh, that dreadful house!" Earlier historians felt that this spontaneous utterance referred to the White House. Some now believe it may have been directed to Thomas W. House, a gun runner, financier, and agent of the Rothschild's during the Civil War, who was linked to the anti-Lincoln, pro-banker interests.<#6>6 The Federal Reserve Another myth that all Americans live with is the charade known as the "Federal Reserve." It comes as a shock to many to discover that it is not an agency of the United States Government. The name "Federal Reserve Bank" was designed to deceive, and it still does. It is not federal, nor is it owned by the government. It is privately owned.<#7>7 It pays its own postage like any other corporation. Its employees are not in civil service. Its physical property is held under private deeds, and is subject to local taxation. Government property, as you know, is not. It is an engine that has created private wealth that is unimaginable, even to the most financially sophisticated.

It has enabled an imperial elite to manipulate our economy for its own agenda and enlisted the government itself as its enforcer. It controls the times, dictates business, affects our homes and practically everything in which we are interested. It takes powerful force to maintain an empire, and this one is no different. The concerns of the leadership of the "Federal Reserve" and its secretive international benefactors appear to go well beyond currency and interest rates. Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the first President from west of the Appalachians. He was unique for the times in being elected by the voters, without the direct support of a recognized political organization. He vetoed the renewal of the charter for the Bank of the United States on July 10, 1832. In 1835, President Andrew Jackson declared his disdain for the international bankers: "You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning."<#8>8 There followed an (unsuccessful) assassination attempt on President Jackson's life.

Jackson had told his vice president, Martin Van Buren, "The bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me...."<#9>9 Was this the beginning of a pattern of intrigue that would plague the White House itself over the coming decades? Was his (and Lincoln's) death related by an invisible thread to the international bankers? James Garfield President James Abram Garfield, our 20th President, had previously been Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and was an expert on fiscal matters. (Upon his election, among other things, he appointed an unpopular collector of customs at New York, whereupon the two Senators from New York--Roscoe Conkling and Thomas Platt--resigned their seats.) President Garfield openly declared that whoever controls the supply of currency would control the business and activities of all the people. After only four months in office, President Garfield was shot at a railroad station on July 2, 1881. Another coincidence. John F. Kennedy President John F. Kennedy planned to exterminate the Federal Reserve System.

In 1963 he signed Executive Orders EO-11 and EO-110, returning to the government the responsibility to print money, taking that privilege away from the Federal Reserve System.<#10>10 Shortly thereafter, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.<#11>11 The professional, triangulated fire that executed the President of the United States is not the most shocking issue. The high- level coordination that organized the widespread coverup is manifest evidence of the incredible power of a "hidden government" behind the scenes. (Sound preposterous? Read Kill Zone, by Craig Roberts for an update on the events in Dealey Plaza.) The Trail of Blood Continues In the 70's and 80's, Congressman Larry P. McDonald spearheaded efforts to expose the hidden holdings and intentions of the international money interests. His efforts ended on August 31, 1983, when he was killed when Korean Airlines 007 was "accidentally" shot down in Soviet airspace. A strange coincidence, it would seem. Senator John Heinz and former Senator John Tower had served on powerful Senate banking and finance committees and were outspoken critics of the Federal Reserve and the Eastern Establishment.

On April 4, 1991, Senator John Heinz was killed in a plane crash near Philadelphia.<#12>12 On the next day, April 5, 1991, former Senator John Tower was also killed in a plane crash. The coincidences seem to mount.<#13>13 Attempts to just audit the Federal Reserve continue to meet with failure. It is virtually impossible to muster support for any issue that has the benefit of a media blackout.<#14>14 (The bizarre but tragic reality that the American people suffer from a managed and controlled media is a subject for another discussion.) Beginning of a Series For many years, numerous authors have attempted to sound the alarm that there exists a hidden "shadow government" that actually rules America. Most of us have dismissed these "conspiracy theory" views as extremist and unrealistic. However, when I had the opportunity to have lunch with Otto von Habsburg,<#15>15 Member of the European Parliament, he made two remarks that caught my attention. The first was: "The ignorance in America is overwhelming." Indeed, the contrast in general awareness of world affairs between the average American and the average European is striking.

It was his second observation that really provoked me: "The concentration of power in America is frightening."<#16>16 As a reasonably circumspect senior executive, having spent three decades in international finance and viewing America as a broadly based representative democracy, his remark shocked me. It prompted me to do some more homework. The results of my inquiries are most disturbing. Sources: 1. Wardner, James W., The Planned Destruction of America, Longwood Communications, 397 Kingslake Drive, DeBarry, FL, 1994. [IMG]A "must read." 2. Roberts, Craig, Kill Zone, Consolidated Press International, 1994. Fascinating expos, on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Paul, Ron, The Ron Paul Survival Report (a newsletter by a former congressman on monetary issues, personal survival, etc.), P.O. Box 602, Lake Jackson, TX, 77566. (A comprehensive list of similar resources is also included in the notes to < Vortex Strategy, Volume 2.) Notes: 1.

< Packages Iron Mixed with Clay: The Emergent European Suprastate; Mystery of Babylon; Daniel's Seventy Weeks; et al. 2. 2 Corinthians 2:11. 3. Ephesians 6:12. 4. Roberts, Archibald E., Bulletin--Committee to Restore the Constitution, Feb. 1989, p. 6; H.S. Kennan, The Federal Reserve Bank, p. 9; James W. Wardner, The Planned Destruction of America, p. 23. 5. Roberts, Craig, Kill Zone, p. 170. 6. Thomas W. House was the father of "Colonel" Edward Mandell House who later became the key player in the election of Woodrow Wilson and the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. 7. Lewis vs. United States, Ninth Circuit Court, Apr. 17, 1982. 8. Roberts, Archibald E., Bulletin--Committee to Restore the Constitution, Feb. 1989, p. 5. 9. Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M., The Age of Jackson, Mentor Books, NY, 1945, p. 6-7.

10. Roberts, Craig, Kill Zone, Typhoon Press, Consolidated Press International, 1994, p. 189. 11. For a current summary of what really happened at Dealey Plaza, read Craig Robert's Kill Zone. 12. Kah, Gary H., En Route to Global Occupation, Huntington House Publishers, Lafayette, LA, 1992, p. 19. 13. ibid., p. 18. 15. His father ruled Europe until the end of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918. 16. < UPDATE, November 1993, p. 4-8.

Question: Which US President was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln